O.C. Goodwill hires marketer to boost brand

Goodwill of Orange County has hired Joe Burke, a retail executive formerly with Disney Stores and Wet Seal, in the latest move to boost the nonprofit's retail growth plans.

Burke, who was brand director for those specialty chains, has been named vice president of marketing and community development, a new position at the Santa Ana-based nonprofit. Most recently, he helped companies such as Three Dots and Agave Denim re-launch their e-commerce business.

"Goodwill has been opening new retail stores and has a growing e-commerce presence with shopgoodwill.com," said CEO Frank Talarico Jr. "Orange County is surging in relation to Goodwills nationally and Joe's background with major brands like Disney and Cox Communications will bring a whole new perspective to the Goodwill experience."

Goodwill serves 10,354 people locally and has an annual budget of more than $78 million, with 91 cents of every dollar spent going directly to services for people with disabilities and other barriers to independence, according to the nonprofit's reports.

Goodwill has 21 retail locations in Orange County, the most recent of which opened in Placentia in September. In June, it completed a makeover of those shops, including new signage, floor graphics, racks, audio messages and the receipts that tie into the "Find/Give" theme. Some of the shops look more like discount stores than traditional thrift shops.

The nonprofit plans to double the number of people it serves in five years, Burke said. One of the things Goodwill will do first: better understand the market.

"We're doing a deep forensic survey of Orange County to find out who donates, why they donate, who shops at Goodwill and who shops at Salvation Army," Burke said.

The nonprofit has identified at least two growth targets: the online site shopgoodwill.com and a younger generation.

Goodwill is going to study lessons from successful e-tailers, then tailor those to shopgoodwill.com, Burke said.

"What's interesting is that eBay and shopgoodwill are similar models, but the difference is the ethos," he said.

To grow the number of people it serves, Goodwill has to appeal to make younger people aware of the organization.

"We're working on reaching the 18-to-24 demographic," Burke said. "We know that they are about community movement, and we are all about community." One of the goals is to leverage the ability of Generation AO (always on, hyperconnected) to influence others' actions and galvanize movement through social media, he added.